Opinion Narrow track
Mamata Banerjee has surprised no one because her budget is along predictable lines. She has a simple agenda: to prepare for the West Bengal assembly election....
This refers to your editorial Rail to nowhere (IE,February 25). Mamata Banerjee has surprised no one because her budget is along predictable lines. She has a simple agenda: to prepare for the West Bengal assembly election. So,as you said,railway-ministry-as-benevolent-socialist-despotism has to be imprinted,which she did effortlessly. To see that she doesnt lose goodwill with her benefactor who acceded to her request to be made railway minister,she gave some benefits to Rae Bareli and Amethi. If a few other states got anything,they were mere crumbs. Over the decades,India has seen railway ministers whose breadth of vision can be measured by what they did for their constituency and then their state,whether Nitish Kumar,Ram Vilas Paswan or Lalu Prasad,and now Mamata Banerjee.
M.K.D. Prasada Rao
Ghaziabad
Rolling ahead
Mamata Banerjee presented a socialist and people-friendly Railway Budget,aiming at more connectivity. The criticism of no new backward areas being linked to rail heads in the post-Independence era is addressed properly. The survey of large number of new areas for connectivity based on social justification is to be complimented. The target of 1000 km of new track for the current year is appreciated. The introduction of new trains,and extension of certain passengers is nothing but old wine in a new bottle. Mamata deserves a special pat for increasing connectivity to temple towns like Tirupati,Madurai,Shirdi,Kanchipuram,Rameswaram,Varanasi,Ajmer,etc. A word of caution: more passenger trains restrict movement of freight trains,the bread earner.
Arja New Delhi
Idol worship
Your front page photograph of the little genius,Sachin Tendulkar,captioned God! was truly appropriate (IE,February 25). Tendulkars finest hour and the first double ton in ODI history makes every single Indian proud of his achievement. He is a class apart. It was a brutal assault on South African bowlers. It was the best ODI innings ever played and Tendulkar stamped his genius in style,which will remain in peoples minds for a lifetime. Just like wine,Tendulkar seems to be getting better with age and every outing. He is a Bharat Ratna of a special breed. Politicians may play politics with what he says but nobody can dare question his feats with the willow.
S.N. Kabra
Words cannot describe the greatness and genius of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar,his achievements of more than 20 years of international cricket which has earned him the status of God and a living record book. This man is a phenomenon,and we are blessed that we can witness history being written. It was very satisfying to see the name of an Indian on top of the list of highest run-getter,above Pakistans Saeed Anwar and Zimbabwes Charles Coventry. We hope his hunger for runs continues,and that he keeps enthralling his countrymen and cricket lovers across the globe.
Ratan Sharga
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